In addition to taking Red Rasberry Leaf tea while pregnant, I also experimented with varying additions of ginger root to my diet. I suffered fairly awful morning sickness for the first 18 weeks of my pregnancy, and I had heard that ginger would relieve my symptoms. I first tried taking ginger capsuls, but after I read that they was no level of ginger that had been determined as safe during pregnancy, I switched to a lighter dose of ginger tea. When that failed to work, I tried the old wive’s suggestion of real ginger soda…and ginger candy…and finally some ginger gum. Absolutely nothing worked. My nausea was extreme and lasted all day every day for 18 weeks until POOF! one day it was gone.

So, what is the deal with ginger root? Was I taking too low of a dose to see any benefit, or is it all just hearsay?

One study conducted at Chiang Mai University in Thailand found that fresh ginger root taken in the correct dosages can significantly reduce nausea and vomiting syptoms in pregnant women. The study found that of 67 women (divided between those receiving 750 mg of ginger and those receiving a placebo) those who received the ginger reported a significant improvement in their nausea/vomiting (87.5%). Less than 30% of women who had been taking the placebo reported similar results. You can read more about the study HERE.

I will go ahead and point out that there are some obvious flaws to this particular study. For one, the study was not double-blind, which is always a problem when their is a placebo involved. Also, the women were self-reporting their nausea/vomit levels…self-reporting is not the same as controlled observation. The women were also around 17 weeks pregnant when the study began which is a common time for morning sickness to be leveling out. AND (as the article mentions) the scientists had not determined what consituted a proper dosage.